


spring days

by namsongdustbin



Category: NCT (Band)
Genre: Highschool AU, M/M, Sorta Canon, doyoung is a soccer mom, mentions of nomin bc i miss jaemin a lot, minimal chensung, nct127 - Freeform, nctdream, the whole fic is jisung-centric
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-03-27
Updated: 2017-03-27
Packaged: 2018-10-11 16:00:37
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,381
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10468743
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/namsongdustbin/pseuds/namsongdustbin
Summary: spring days are when things have a new beginning tl;dr: mark and donghyuck's friendship blossom into something else





	

**Author's Note:**

> this is entirely in jisung's point of view because the maknae's recent savagery and roasting of his hyungs is too irresistible to not be put in a fic

**winter**

The first time Jisung notices something amiss is at the waiting room, the snow flurries falling thickly against the window panes, leaving the group of teenage boys shivering in their jackets and coats. 

Mark is leaning against the armrest of the sofa, speaking unintelligible words to Donghyuck, who sits on it comfortably, his head tilting to get a full view of the elder’s face. Jisung notices the way they are in such unnecessarily close proximity to each other, and how Donghyuck’s eyes keeps flitting to Mark’s lips, before settling on the elder’s face again, wearing a slightly bashful smile. He grows acutely aware of how the rosy tint on Mark’s prominent cheekbones intensifies with every passing second, turning a positive shade of ruby when he grows conscious of how the auburn-haired male keeps stealing glances at his lips, his bashfulness now even more apparent in the reddening of the tips of his ears. And mostly, Jisung realizes how two people having a normal conversation _shouldn’t_ be in that close proximity to each other. _Shouldn’t they?_

_Weird_ , he thinks to himself, and rolls over on the couch. Either way, he will rather choose to squeeze in five more minutes of sleep over creepily observing his hyungs, before their group was called up next for the camera rehearsal. 

\--- 

The sound of snores fill the car as it zooms past the highway, heading back to their dorms. Jeno is fast asleep on his shoulder, his mouth dangerously wide open, drool threatening to leak onto him. Jisung cringes in disgust and tries to wiggle free, but to no avail, for Jeno sleeps like a literal _rock_ ; his head like a boulder on the 15 year old’s bony shoulders. The maknae cranes his neck around, all ready to complain and whine to his Mark hyung about the injustice being done to him. 

He decides not to. 

The sight of his two constantly bickering hyungs huddling at the back of the sweltering car (the heater is working exceptionally well today), all tender and soft as though they are never jumping down each other’s throats is an obvious enough sign for Jisung not to interrupt such a moment. He squints at Donghyuck, all quiet and affectionate as he rests _his_ weary head on Mark’s shoulder (not that he minded, unlike Jisung) and the younger swears the two are holding hands under the guise of Mark’s coat. He slowly turns to face the front again, choosing to put up with the suffering under the imposition of Jeno’s head, rather than watching such an odd and puke-worthy moment between his two hyungs. 

_Friends don’t act like that, don’t they?_ The teenager wonders to himself. He tries imagining him and Chenle doing that and shudders, unable to picture such an atrocity. No, he thinks. These two are definitely not acting normal. He is going to find out why. 

**spring**

The music blares through the speakers at the four corners of the practice room, pumping the adrenaline in the teenager’s veins as he takes center in the dance number the group is currently practicing to. Spring is full of endless rehearsals, practices, and preparation for the onslaught of music festivals and shows both locally and abroad. Jisung can say he’s excited, but he is more certain of himself being _exhausted_ , having to push his young body into executing the most intricate of choreographies, while tanking as the role of the main dancer in the group. Yup, he most certainly is exhausted. 

He could feel himself losing focus as the group gets into formation yet again, when a yelp jolts him out of his dance-induced stupor. He whips around and sees Donghyuck on the floor, clutching his ankle, his face paper white as he bites his lip, trying to conceal the pain. In an instant, Mark was by his side, worry etched on his face. 

“What happened?” Jisung asks, wiping his sweat with the back of his hand as he bends over the rest of the boys, who were hovering around Donghyuck. 

“He landed badly after the formation. I’m sorry, Donghyuck, I didn’t support you properly,” Renjun admits, looking extremely guilty at the scene before him. 

“Where did you fall?” Mark asks, gingerly inspecting the younger’s swollen ankle. 

“I don’t know. I just heard a loud crack and I couldn’t get up after,” he replies with a waver in his voice, tears brimming in his eyes. 

“Shh, it’s okay, it’s okay,” Mark soothes the younger, ruffling his hair, “Jisung, go get some ice will you? Jeno, go get manager hyung, we need to see how serious it is,” the elder instructs, the natural leader in him shining through. 

The maknae nods and heads to the ice dispenser down the hallway, filling an empty plastic with the ice. He shakes his head in worry, hoping that the seriousness of Donghyuck’s injury is not to the extent that he can’t perform with the group. It will be a real blow. 

He returns to the practice room, and sees Donghyuck resting his head on Mark’s lap as he elevates his foot on a chair, his eyes shut as he starts breathing more evenly, while the elder strokes his sweaty hair from sticking to his forehead. Jisung tries to make himself scarce as possible while trying his best to ignore the both of them, wordlessly handing the bag of ice to Mark. Luckily for him, Jeno and their manager, his saviours, appear shortly after, instructing them to suspend practice for the time being, in order to take Donghyuck to the clinic. Jisung watches Mark hoist Donghyuck onto his back effortlessly, as though the younger bears no weight at all, as he follows their manager out the door. Jisung shoots Jeno a questioning look, hoping their telepathy was working for the day but unfortunately, it isn’t, as the elder looks away to a guilt laden Renjun, who sits forlornly by the mirrors. As Jeno walks over to pat Renjun on the back and assure him that it is not _solely_ his fault, Jisung ambles over to disturb an unsuspecting Chenle, making a mental note to save his questions for another time. 

\--- 

“Tell me again, why do I have to carry all the picnic baskets when we have six members?” Jisung whines for the umpteenth time, glaring bitterly at his hyungs who were walking a few steps ahead of him, free of any physical burdens. 

“Because, you’re our trusty maknae, Jisung ah. And, I’m injured, so that makes only five functional members,” Donghyuck grins, clutching Mark’s arm as he limps down the pathway. 

“I will injure the rest of you if you don’t help me,” he threatens, to the deaf ears of his members. “Seriously guys, these things are heavy. I’m not the one who chose to bring so much food!” 

“Fine, fine,” Mark relents, laughing at the maknae’s indignation as he relieves him of one basket. “If you hadn’t sprained your ankle it would be you carrying both of these, seeing you packed them,” he nudges Donghyuck in the ribs, as the tan male laughs gleefully at the perks he enjoys from having an injured foot. 

Jisung was absolutely sure by now, that there was definitely something _more_ going on between his two hyungs. He can’t put his finger on exactly what it was, but the way Mark has been more patient with the younger’s deviousness, and the manner in which Donghyuck looks at Mark as though he hung the sun, signals to Jisung that something had changed between them. He just needs his intel, Jeno, to confirm his suspicions. 

To celebrate the group’s three wins in a row in music shows, they had decided to utilize their day off for a typical picnic under the cherry blossoms, the first type of fresh air they would be getting after long hours of inhaling the dank air of the basement practice rooms back in the company building. Together, Jisung and Jeno lay the mat down on a grassy patch under a particularly thick blossom, shading them from the rays of the sun. Both boys flop onto the mat in unison, Jisung albeit more dramatically after the exhausting task of carrying two baskets worth of food for six teenage boys. Renjun and Chenle had already run off, the latter’s high pitched screams audible in the distance, probably out of exhilaration in competing with the older to get their first and only Pikachu within the vicinity. Mark and Donghyuck on the other hand… 

Jisung rests himself on his elbows and raises his head a little higher. 

The pair were undeniably holding hands alright, discretion and privacy all forgotten. Jisung watches, half intrigued, half confused as the pair of them walk towards the Han River, Donghyuck limping a little as he clings onto the elder for support. He turns towards Jeno, who has an arm slung over his eyes, dozing off as soon as his head comes into contact with any surface. 

“Hyung,” he hisses, whacking the elder lightly on his elbow. Jeno grunts and cracks an eyelid open at the younger, “What?”

“Don’t you think Mark and Donghyuck hyung have been acting weird lately?” he prods, observing Mark giving the younger a piggyback as they walk along the river bank. 

“Weird, meaning?” Jeno asks, eyebrows furrowing in confusion. 

“Don’t act like you haven’t seen anything, hyung! They’re usually yelling at each other, but nowadays they’re acting so lovey-dovey, it's becoming unbearable. And Donghyuck has been so tame lately, he isn’t even half annoying as he usually is,” Jisung lets out, feeling an odd sense of relief for having spoken out after weeks of bottling all the oddity to himself. 

“Huh? How is any of that weird? They’re just close as usual,” Jeno says dismissively, his eyes landing on the pair a few yards across them. “Or maybe, a little _closer_ than usual.” he concludes, slinging his arm over his eyes again. 

“Yeah, I’m sure close friends hold hands every time of the day and stare at each other as though someone served a rainbow out of his ass,” Jisung says huffily, disappointed that Jeno doesn’t share the same view as him. He lies back down with a grunt and watches the cherry blossoms sway with every breath of the wind in stony silence. 

“What’s your point here, Jisung?”

“I don’t think they’re just friends. Unless you know something, and you’re not telling me,” the younger pouts. 

“They’re just friends. Unless you tell me you and Chenle aren’t friends based on how you treat each other everyday, there shouldn’t be a reason why they aren’t,” Jeno grins mischievously, his eyes glinting as he teases the maknae. 

Jisung rolls his eyes and lightly smacks the elder on his shoulder. “Screw off, hyung,” he scoffs and shuts his eyes, dropping the conversation before it could go any further.

**summer**

Jisung loves summer. 

It is about the only time in the year where he feels like an actual teenage boy, enjoying his time off school, practice, responsibilities in general, settling for lazing around the dorm and betting how many times he can beat Chenle at any video game under the sun. Besides the torrid heat and having to have the fan and aircon on at full blast everyday, well, he doesn’t have much to complain about summer. 

By the time summer had rolled around, Jisung had pretty much dropped his whole “Mark and Donghyuck are acting weird” theory, much to the amusement of Jeno, who had only barely restrained himself from saying ‘I told you so’ upon seeing how tall the maknae had grown over the past few months. The pair of them are rarely seen together anymore, what with Mark juggling (or struggling?) his way through his upcoming finals, along with practice, more practice and that highly stressful rap show he’s got under his belt. Jisung recalls the only time seeing them together is when they leave for school in the same cab, however, still returning home at different times due to their differing timetables. 

That day, the 127 hyungs came over (read: invaded) their dormitory for their annual sleepover slash summer slumber party, complete with boxes of large pizza and fried chicken, courtesy of Taeyong and Doyoung’s generosity. After much hubbub and argument over which movie to watch (“I am _not_ watching a horror movie again!” yells Taeyong over everyone’s voices), they finally settled on Train to Busan, much to the bemusement of Taeyong and some others who had watched it countless times. 

“1, 2, 3, 4..,” Doyoung trails off, scanning the room as he headcounts the members, “Where’s Mark and Donghyuck?” he asks no one in particular, to the general ignorance of the room. 

“Mark’s probably studying, Donghyuck… is probably waiting for him to finish studying,” Renjun replies offhandedly, eyes glued to his phone while googling the ending to Train to Busan. 

“Well go get them then, it won’t be complete without them,” Doyoung says, as his eyes zero in on the maknae. “Jisung, go get them.” 

“Why, I’m comfortable here. Ask Chenle, he is nearest to the bedroom,” Jisung whines, refusing to budge from his comfy spot at the corner of the couch. 

“Go, or you won’t have pizza since _I_ bought it,” Doyoung threatens, knowing full well that the threat of food deprivation always works on any type of brattiness. 

With much grumbling and cursing under his breath, the younger drags himself out of the couch and shuffles down the end of the corridor to Mark and Donghyuck’s shared room. He notices that the door is left ajar, the sound of hushed voices trailing out of it. He approaches their room carefully, their volumes getting higher as he got closer, peaking his curiosity as it got the better of him. He stands at the edge of the door frame, able to hear every word clear as day as though they were speaking right beside him. Jisung leans his head in. 

“I really don’t blame you for being busy, hyung, but it’s like you’re never around anymore,” Donghyuck says uneasily. 

“You said it, Hyuck, there’s just so many things going on these past few days. I’m not as free to be with you as I was these past few months, and you know it,” Mark replies, steady and calm as always. 

“I get that. But… these days… we don’t even talk for days because I rarely see you, even at home. It just sucks that you don’t care that we don’t spend time together anymore,” the younger says, his voice wearing thin. 

Jisung slowly begins to back away, knowing that this is not a conversation he should infringe upon.

“Why do _you_ care so much? It’s not like we’re dating!” Mark suddenly snaps. 

There is a long, pregnant pause. Jisung feels like someone just poured a bucket of ice water down his shirt, the cold seeping through his veins as the weight of his knowledge bore down upon him. He turned on his heel and walked away as quickly and silently as he could, making a beeline for the living room. When Doyoung shoots him a questioning look, he merely shakes his head and sits down, ignoring the rest of the members’ questioning faces turning towards him. 

\---

That night, Jisung tosses around listlessly on his bed, the knowledge that something may have broken between the two people closest to him keeping his eyes wide open, staring glassily at the ceiling. At around midnight he hears Donghyuck limp his way down the corridor to the living room with heavy steps, an audible sniff echoing through the walls of the narrow corridor. 

Jisung didn’t sleep that night. 

**autumn**

Autumn rolls by as quickly as summer ended, the cold slowly seeping through the walls of the dormitory. Jisung could almost feel the frostiness between Mark and Donghyuck solidify as the days got colder and colder. 

Donghyuck won’t stay in the same room as Mark for longer than two seconds, his body visibly tensing up the moment he senses the elder’s presence in proximity. Jisung is acutely aware of how he would only go into their shared bedroom when he is certain that the elder is asleep, sometimes waiting till the wee hours of the morning before he finally retreated to bed. He is painfully aware of how Donghyuck would stick to Jeno during practice like chewing gum, avoiding Mark like the plague, while the latter sends them shifty glances every now and then, as though on the verge of saying something, but never actually saying it. 

He finds it ironic, how beautiful it is to watch the leaves turn golden brown, fade, and fall in a kaleidoscope of red, yellow and brown patches on the ground, inviting excited children to dive into the stately piles of colour. He finds it outrightly painful to watch his hyungs’ relationship (or whatever it was between them) weather out and fade, as though he is watching a lone evergreen leaf shrivel up and die, falling onto the ground, forgotten. 

**winter**

When the first snow of the year falls, Jisung and the others were too weathered out from practice to get excited over the white flurries cascading down from the cloudy sky. 

The only person who seemed mildly interested was Mark, the oldest teenager excitedly bounding over to the window like a puppy upon seeing the first few flurries hit the ground.

“Oh my god, guys, look! It’s snow! It’s the first snow of the year!” he exclaims, yanking the curtains open, throwing the dormitory in blinding white light, much to the pained groans of his members. 

“Look at it, it’s snowing so heavily, I’ve never seen anything like this in Korea before, it only ever snowed so heavily in Canada…” he trails off, getting lost in nostalgia about his hometown. 

Jisung sneaks a peek at Donghyuck, who gazes at Mark’s excited profile with honey dripping from his eyes, his mouth settled in an affectionate smile, softening his delicate features as he observes the older getting all childishly excited over snow. Jisung feels a sort of hope blooming in his chest - that somehow, ironically, - the snow could melt the ice between them. 

“Who wants to go and have a snow fight?” Mark calls to the room with a gleeful grin on his lips, much to the general disgruntlement of the vicinity. 

“We just had four hours of practice, hyung!”

“I just took a shower, I am not getting wet again!”

“I’m tired and lazy, let’s go another day” 

“I’m not getting off this couch.” 

“What are y’all, eighty?” Mark says incredulously. “Y’all are no fun at all.”

“I’ll go with you.” came a soft voice from the couch, drawing everyone’s heads towards him.  
A silence filled the room, as the entire room waited with bated breath for the blonde’s response, whose eyes are fixed on the tan male sitting on the sofa across the living room. And then- 

“Let’s go then, grab your coat.”

Jisung makes eye contact with Jeno, who winks at him knowingly as the rest of the group resume their activities after the moment of united tension a few seconds before. He watches the retreating backs of the blonde and the auburn haired male out the door, hoping for the best.

Mark and Donghyuck do not return til 3 am in the morning, the sound of the door opening, jolting Jisung from his unsettled slumber. The teenager creeps to the door, careful not to wake Jeno or Renjun as he sneaks a peek at the living room from the door, which was left ajar. 

Their faces were flushed, either from the cold or something else, he couldn’t tell. Jisung watches Mark brush the snow out of Donghyuck’s hair, before he decides that he will rather not see what happens next, lest his imagination be scarred. He turns, and bumps into something rather solid, almost letting out a yelp before that something clasps a hand over his mouth, effectively silencing him. 

“There now, you wouldn’t want Mark and Donghyuck to catch you spying on them would you?” Jeno whispers, silently snickering at the frozen look on the maknae’s face. 

Jisung angrily shoves his hand off his face, grumbling, “I wasn’t spying. They were being loud, they woke me up.” He climbs back onto his bed, yanking the sheets over his body, an odd sense of relief flooding through his head to the tips of his toes. 

Things are going to be okay again. 

 

**spring**

Laughter and chatter fill the air as the school auditorium fills with students clad in its signature mustard yellow uniform, like a flock of canary birds. Jisung trails behind Mark, who has an arm shamelessly wrapped around Donghyuck’s waist, the pair of them attached at the hip ever since they left the dormitory. Jisung can’t help but notice the number of familiar faces he sees amongst the students at the school, some almost unrecognizable in the absence of layers of makeup caked on their faces during broadcasts and as such. 

“Didn’t realize how many famous people your school has,” Jisung comments, nudging Jeno in the ribs. 

“That’s why I’m here, silly,” Jeno whispers back, earning a derisive snort from the younger. 

The whole group of them are attending Mark’s senior year graduation ceremony, like a bunch of proud parents seeing their child off to college. Mark has made a point to walk as far away from Doyoung and Johnny as possible, who both kept making loud, snivelly, greasy comments about how “Our Makkeuri has finally grown up!” and “Our cutie boy has become a man now!” drawing snickers and unwanted attention from his peers. 

Jisung notices how oddly quiet Donghyuck has been since morning, not even choosing to join in the teasing, uncharacteristic of his boisterous and joking character. Upon forcing to part with Mark, he pouts, giving the elder the saddest puppy eyes he could muster. Mark squeezes his hands and waves a quick goodbye to the entourage, finding his seat at the left side of the hall. 

“So,” Jisung suddenly says, catching Donghyuck off guard and causing him to jump in shock, “Why the long face?” he asks clapping a hand on his shoulder. 

“It’s nothing,” the tan boy waves him off, nudging his hand away. Jisung raises an eyebrow. Donghyuck sighs, “It’s just weird thinking we won’t be in the same school anymore. It’s hard to picture school without him,” he lets out, twiddling his thumbs together. 

Jisung, feeling unsure about how to react to this uncharacteristically broody Donghyuck, stutters, “Um, you’ll be fine. You’ll still have Jeno and Jaemin hyung with you.” 

“Yeah, but it won’t be the same.” Donghyuck smiles ruefully. 

\---

“Hyung, look at the buffet spread! There are _eclairs_ , I haven’t had those in forever, come with me!” Chenle jabbers away in broken Korean, trying to tug Jaehyun along with him in vain. Giving up, he drags Jisung along to ‘diffuse the shamelessness’ as he puts it, leaving the younger to trail behind him meekly. 

“We need to take a graduation photo, so where’s the _graduated_ boy?” Taeyong hollers over the din, trying to consolidate his members who are scattered in about every corner of the auditorium. He singlehandedly extricates Jeno from his classmates and drags Chenle and Jisung away from the assaulted eclairs, while tiptoeing or rather, struggling, to spot a certain blonde haired teenager in the crowd. “Where’s Mark?” he asks the group, giving up under the sheer overwhelming number of similarly dressed teenagers in the vicinity. 

“Don’t disturb him now, the kid’s busy,” Jaehyun grins, his eyes glinting.

“Huh? What do you-” 

“Look over there, hyung,” Jaehyun says, jabbing his finger at a seemingly secluded corner of the auditorium. 

Jisung whips around to the general direction of Jaehyun’s finger, his cheeks still bulging with the chocolate fudge eclairs he devoured a few seconds ago. He nearly spits it out seeing how Mark and Donghyuck were embracing so closely that their faces are touching - wait, no they are _kissing_. Jisung’s mouth fell open and so did a stray eclair, earning a high pitched squeal of disgust from Chenle. 

“Why… are they doing that... here?” Taeyong asks faintly, blinking at the sight. 

Upon realizing a few eyes on them, Mark slides his graduation hat down his head to block their faces from view, earning a few squeals from the members, watching the scene as though it’s a climatic cliche straight out of a kdrama. 

“Well… that’s sweet, but… they shouldn’t,” Taeyong’s voice grows even fainter, almost breathless. He takes a few steps towards the lovebirds, ready to drag them back to reality, only for Johnny to catch him by the elbow to stop him. 

“Let them, Taeyong, I think they’ve been waiting to do that for a while,” he grins, looking as though he won the lottery. 

Taeyong reluctantly lets it slide, probably waiting to lecture them about decorum and discretion back in the car. Jisung saunters over to Jeno, giving him a hard whack on his derriere. 

“Ow! What was that for?” he yelps indignantly, while rubbing his bottom, glaring at the bold maknae before him. 

“For knowing all along and not telling me. What am I, a stranger to you?” Jisung says accusingly, his feelings a little wounded upon realizing how he has been the only person in the dark about everything. 

“I thought you knew already, it was amusing seeing you guess,” Jeno laughs, looking at the younger’s offended face. 

“What else, do I not know, that you and Jaemin hyung are secretly dating too?” he prods, arms folded in front of his chest. 

Jeno turns lobster red, and turns away immediately, muttering, “Shut up.”

“Oh, so you guys actually _are_ actually secretly dating?” Jisung half-yells, a gleeful and triumphant smirk spread across his face. “Taeyong hyung, Jeno and-” Jeno cuts him off, as he puts the younger in a headlock, holding him in place. 

“Say one more word and I’ll tell Chenle how you really feel about him,” Jeno threatens, causing the younger to falter, his arms hanging loosely by his side.  
“You wouldn’t.” 

“I would. If you don’t shut up.” 

“Fine,” Jisung relents, and Jeno releases Jisung from his grip, instead grabbing the younger’s pinky and intertwining them with his. 

“We’ll keep this a secret between us, promise?” 

Jisung nods.

**Author's Note:**

> managed to slide in the lowkey nomin cause i miss nana a lot ;( also markhyuck has been really bold lately don't you think? the ship is sailing faster than a speedboat im in love :^) comments and kudos will be lovely, thanks for reading!!


End file.
